The present invention relates, generally, to aircraft cockpit displays and, more particularly, to methods for integrating, organizing, and accessing flight plan and other data on cockpit displays.
Aircraft flight displays continue to advance in sophistication, achieving increasingly higher levels of information density and, consequently, presenting a greater amount of visual information to be perceived and understood by the operator. In many instances, it is important that visual displays provide a proper cognitive mapping between what the operator is trying to achieve and the information available to accomplish the task. As a result, such systems increasingly utilize human-factor design principles in order to build instrumentation and controls that work cooperatively with human operators.
One area in particular that has not profited in advances in graphical user interfaces is the field of aircraft flight management systems (FMS). Flight management systems perform a variety of tasks for an aircraft. For example, a pilot may be able to program the FMS with an entire flight plan, including a variety of course changes. The FMS is then able to interface with the autopilot systems of the aircraft and automatically direct the aircraft along the flight path, automatically programming each course change into the autopilot.
However, in current generation aircraft, flight plan entry, editing, and viewing continues to be performed using cumbersome techniques which have not changed significantly in the decade. As a result, flight crews frequently complain that current flight management systems (FMS) are non-intuitive, difficult to interpret, and require too much heads-down time. Indeed, due to the high cockpit workload involved, many flight crews abandon the FMS altogether for flight planning functions, choosing instead to fly the aircraft by manually programming the autopilot.
Thus, there is a desire for a system that will simplify the use of the FMS such that pilots will be more likely to use the FMS. Such a system should also simplify th e display of the FMS to further ease the process of using the FMS.
The following summary of the invention is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the present invention, an d is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the invention can only be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
The present invention provides a method and system for displaying a flight plan such that an entire flight plan is viewable through the use of scrolling devices. The present invention also provides for a method and system for collapsing and expanding a flight plan display. The present invention also provides for the conspicuous marking of changes to a flight plan. The present invention may also provide for the use of tabs to switch between various displays of data. Furthermore, there may be more than one set of tabs within a display system. In addition, the present invention discloses a navigation database that allows a user to view information about various navigational aids. The database may also the access to the information about the navigational aids to be prioritized based on proximity to the current position of the aircraft.
The novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description of the invention or can be learned by practice of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description of the invention and the specific examples presented, while indicating certain embodiments of the present invention, are provided for illustration purposes only because various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those of skill in the art from the detailed description of the invention and claims that follow.